to hate the term 'the baby'

[susia]

It seems bizarre to me but probably being unreasonable that people refer to their baby as 'the baby' rather than their name especially if they have only one.

Someone I know has a baby/child of nearly two and still refers to him as the baby. I feel like saying 'do you mean xxx?'

But think its just me being irritable and intolerant!

Better than calling your NSC Stumpy.

(note to self - MUST stop doing this, MUST stop doing this)

I have at least stopped calling him Fatboy - It was never an insult, he was born plumptious, that's all, and I loved his little double chin but the looks I got, oh the looks.....

I do it, and I also still refer to Girl Dog as 'the puppy', even though she is 2.5 years old, bigger than Boy Dog, and weighs 45 kilos...

My mil still calls her youngest son "the baby", he is 43.

Thumbwitch, yes I also refer to Ds sometimes as 'The Boy', or even in jest 'Best Baby' (because he's the only one - although it has occurred to me that this could get mighty tricky if we have another one). Funniest thing is when he looks in the mirror (he's only two) and says fondly "Best baby!".

To echo others I don't mind what mothers call their own babies/children (as long as it's not abusive or horrible name-calling for real - I know people can fondly call their LOs things like Rattails or whatever) but don't like it when health officials (it's usually them) refer to them as 'baby' or you as "mummy'. Makes me want to screech "But I'm an individual! - Or at least I was..."

just very recently for some utterly obscure reason, I have started to mix up DS's and DH's names... not sure what that says...

Sometimes call my 7 year old baby, its a term of endearment. Chill.

Thumbwitch, I've been mixing calling both DP and DS Ds's name from the beginning. I dread to think what that says - except the obvious which is that I spend a huge amount of time with the little man and not enough time with the old man

lol skydancer - think that's probably it for me too

my DD was called "the baby" up until she was 5 (!) at which time my DS was born - now he is "the boy".

I cringe when people use "little un" (little one and all abbreviations of it) or "wee one" if you're Scottish.

My mum has an annoying habit of referring to any child under say, 9yo (yes really) as "the baby". As in "Ooh I saw Sarah in town yesterday, she had the baby with her". (firstly, said child has a name and secondly, is now 7.5!!!)

Aha! I can go Even More Annoying than "The Baby":

My mum again (bless her) refers to mothers, as "the mother"! As in, "D'you know, Sarah really shouldn't allow so many sweets. The baby expects the mother to buy them every day".

It is so annoying it makes my teeth grind. I find myself saying, "Do you mean Sarah shouldn't allow Amy to have so many sweets?"...

PS Recently I said "Mum, "the baby" is now nearly 8 you know. Why call her "the baby" still?

Reply from Mum, all frowning and petulant...

"Well then, what should I be calling her then?"

Er, AMY perhaps?!?!?

Gawd.

Yes maybe should start a new thread: "AIBU to forget who my DP is, or what he's called these days, when I live with him?" I'm starting to call him 'daddy' now too. I never thought it would come to this...

ah now skydancer I have started doing that totally deliberately (also on my top 10 list of what NOT to do previously) purely to remind DH that his primary responsibility now is to his son - that he is a Daddy first and foremost and everything else comes second to that (like tennis, drinking, playing the guitar I mean) - he doesn't mind and agrees that he needs the reminder sometimes. Besides, DS knows who I'm talking about when I say "where's Daddy?" so there's not much point in then calling Dh something other than Daddy in the next bit.

I once knew a boy aged about 7 who thought his name was actually "The Bairn"!!
Turns out, his family had given up arguing what to call him after a year or so and just called him Bairn.

BTW we live 'Oop north' so the bairn is kinda slang for baby.
Still bloody sad though

Just "baby" sounds like an old-fashioned Nanny...as in "I have just fed and winded baby Madam, will there be anything else?"

My sister calls her husband "baby". He is 40 years old and 20ish stone!! I merely report this, I decline to comment.

Hate "the Baby" almost as much as I hate "the Wife"

Love "the Bairn" or "the Littlin"...its a northern thing,..a term of endearment rather than just a noun!

The men I used to work with always referred to "the wife" as if there was only one and they all shared her! (Maybe they did, nothing would surprise me in that part of The Midlands)

LOL Nellies mum naughty

Thumbwitch I never thought of 'daddy' naming as being a tactic. I was worried I was merely turning into my own parents or some parody of 1950s housewife, but that truly does makes me feel better about it . I came to motherhood relatively late in life and still sometimes marvel at how it utterly changes you, your identity and how everyone else views you of course.

Round here it is common to refer to you youngest child as "the wee one" even at 16+ As in "I am taking the wee one to the doctors today".

you and me both skydancer - I marvel less about how much I changed than my friends do, who were truly stunned and amused at how I suddenly became all motherly (not mumsy, thank god!), especially as I had not previously shown any motherly instincts, far from it really!! Quite glad I came to it late though, am enjoying the transition rather than bewailing the loss of my "freedom".

Whoops, sorry for minor hijack!

Yes Skramble, I say wee one but it sounds like "wain/wayin" the way I say it (and which must sound mildly ridiculous to any body without a northern twang!

Beat this, have just written an 80th birthday card to "babby"

(Babby is equivalent to bairn in Ireland)

The name stuck. I'm not a family member, the whole town knows her, and she refers to herself as babby - a cautionary tale..

Ahhh... me babbies me bairns!